ABSTRACT
Operation Hawaii, as the attack on the United States Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor was first code-named, was the conception and responsibility of one man: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese combined fleet since August 1939. Yamamoto came to respect greatly American industrial potential and spoke English fluently. He also became an ardent poker player while he lived in Washington. Yamamoto became the master of the calculated risk; indeed, some American officers who rather consistently lost to him at cards were convinced that he cheated, so good was he at bluffing. Since 1919 America had maintained a Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor; the fleet’s alternate base was at San Diego. Yamamoto ultimately chose Minoru Genda, the air commander of the carrier Kaga, Japan’s leading naval ace and a veteran of the China conflict, to write the plan that would be used against the Americans. Genda warmed to the idea.
